Bush offers carmakers 4-month loans; punts to Obama

by Joseph N. DiStefano, Posted: December 19, 2008

The Bush administration, which doesn't want old Detroit to die in its final days in office, plans to lend General Motors and Chrysler $13.4 billion from federal financial bailout (TARP) funds to tide them over until March, after the GOP balked an earlier deal in Congress.

What happens after March? Unless car orders pick up or some new lenders or investors want to get involved, the Obama administration and the new Democratic Congress will have a choice of letting the overbuilt, overpriced carmakers declare bankruptcy and reorganize, or else cobbling together a longer-term taxpayer bailout.

The Bush administration, which doesn't want old Detroit to die in its final days in office, plans to lend General Motors and Chrysler $13.4 billion from federal financial bailout (TARP) funds to tide them over until March, after the GOP balked an earlier deal in Congress. What happens after March? Unless car orders pick up or some new lenders or investors want to get involved, the Obama administration and the new Democratic Congress will have a choice of letting the overbuilt, overpriced carmakers declare bankruptcy and reorganize, or else cobbling together a longer-term taxpayer bailout. Link to GM and Chrysler bailout terms .

Posted: December 19, 2008 - 11:04 AM

Joseph N. DiStefano

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